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Thursday, May 29, 2014

From Brunei to Boko Haram: Merely Deflection, by Raheel Raza

Boko Haram's members justify
their acts in the name of Islam, and Muslim leaders are intimidated into
silence. Add to this a hatred for the West and its values, and you have
an explosive combination of violence and faith being pushed upon
innocent civilians.
Inaction on the part of both Nigeria's government and global powers has led to this latest horrific act of abduction.
Muslims globally cannot remain under the illusion that because they
put out press releases or say that Boko Haram is "not Muslim," they can
distance themselves from these crimes. If they do not openly condemn
Boko Haram and similar groups such as the Taliban or the Muslim
Brotherhood, they are by default supporting those causes.

Recently, on a radio panel about Islamic sharia law featuring two
academics from American universities -- a Muslim Professor of Islamic
Studies and a Christian professor of Religious Studies -- it was
frustrating trying to keep the conversation on track.
Both professors were preoccupied with "The Golden Age of Islam" and
"How Christianity went through a similar crises" and other similarly
irrelevant information. The real focus should have been: "What is
happening in the name of Islam today and what do we do about the
atrocities being perpetrated in the name of sharia as we speak?"
Unfortunately, that question was consistently being buried. For many
Muslims and especially Muslim organizations, a discussion about Islam
and Muslims usually ends up in defense and deflection. Rarely does the
conversation focus on half the population: women. That is the crux of
the problem. If women are considered only half-human, why dwell on their
human rights?
It is our moral and ethical responsibility, as Muslims, to discuss
and debate these issues – even though they may be considered "our dirty
laundry."
But how are we going to get there when the only picture most Muslims
want to paint is one of grandeur and glory of the past? One way is to
take a step-by-step factual look at what is taking place in the Muslim
world.
Approximately a month ago, more than 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped
in the north of Nigeria by a radical Islamist group, Boko Haram – which
loosely translated means "Western education is forbidden." Since then,
the terrorists have threatened to sell the girls as slaves, force them
into marriage and convert those who are Christian to Islam.

Boko Haram and other extremists are who they are because they
openly reject the values that make up liberal democracies as in the USA
and Canada. These extremists have not embraced freedom and modernity:
their aim is to live like seventh-century Muslims -- in patriarchal,
tribal societies rallying against Western values.
It took the global media and world powers time to connect the dots;
we in the Western world tend to look at events in Africa or the Middle
East through the lens of the individual freedoms, democracy and human
rights that we embrace.
Here in North America, education for both boys and girls is a given
and taken for granted. In most Muslim societies, however, education for
women has become a challenge, as we know from Malala Yousafzai's
encounter with the Taliban. Boko Haram, the Taliban of Africa, are
terrified of educated, liberated Muslim women. They prefer to keep women
under a cloak of darkness.
Add to this a hatred for the West and its values, and you have an
explosive combination of violence and faith being pushed upon innocent
citizens. The question is, why did this happen and what do they want? Is
it just about education? The answer is simple: Boko Haram has been
trying to impose its version of sharia on Nigeria for a long time, and
inaction on the part of both Nigeria's government and global powers has
led to this latest horrific act of abduction.
This is not the first time Boko Haram has terrorized civilians and it
will not be the last. Boko Haram's members believe that they are doing
what God wants them to do. They justify their acts in the name of Islam,
and Muslim leaders are intimidated into silence. As if speaking out
would render them unfaithful to their faith. Nothing could be further
from the truth.
The terrorists therefore feel empowered and emboldened to continue their horrific acts, while the world watches.
In a recent video, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau says, "These
girls, these girls you occupy yourselves with... we have indeed
liberated them. These girls have become Muslims." It is obvious that
Shekau's idea of liberation is to impose his own brand of Islam on the
Christian girls who were abducted.
Many apologists among Muslims like to say that Boko Haram are not
really Muslims. This is another easy deflection. Deflection is not new.
When 9/11 happened, many Muslims said -- and still do today -- that the
9/11 attackers were not "really" Muslims.
But are we deluding ourselves?
Boko Haram leader Shekau, known as "Darul Tawheed," is an expert in
monotheism. He studied first under a cleric and then at Borno State
College of Legal and Islamic Studies. He states that the members of Boko
Haram are following sharia law, so they are self-defined Muslims.
We can find fault in them for orchestrating horrible crimes against
humanity, but we can never fault them for being Muslim. They can throw
Quranic verses and hurl hadeeth (secondary commentary) faster than we can say "fatwa."
Muslims globally cannot remain under the illusion that because they
put out press releases, or state that Boko Haram is "un-Islamic," or not
Muslim, they can distance themselves from these crimes against
humanity. This is dishonest. If they do not openly condemn Boko Haram
and similar groups such as the Taliban and the Muslim Brotherhood, they
are by default supporting those causes.
Boko Haram is part of the same ideology that created Al-Qaeda, the
Taliban and the Muslim Brotherhood. All of them follow a violent,
misogynist interpretation of Islam with sharia as their guiding policy.
They are wreaking havoc on both the Muslim world and the West.
The sharia that they follow is the sharia that the Sultan of Brunei
now wants to impose on his people: it is hostile to women and
minorities. Its followers want to persecute gays, bring back stoning and
impose the terrifying apostasy laws that are a way of eliminating
dissent.
Muslim organizations in North America who are followers of the Muslim
Brotherhood ideology have encroached on our system. If they are really
concerned about the abducted girls they must first reject the aspects of
sharia that are creating monsters such as Boko Haram. This means an
open and impassioned rejection of the cutting off hands, stoning, gender
oppression and terms such as "armed jihad". This means asking hard
questions, such as "how can we live in the 21st Century under archaic 13th century laws"?

Available at: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4332/boko-haram-abduction